Busman Studied Everything From The Ocean Floor To Solar Storms
By Jill Fennema –
John Busman’s military experience really had nothing to do with war and everything to do with engineering and data collection.
John graduated from the Chandler High School in 1965. He went on to South Dakota State University to earn a degree in engineering, graduating in 1969.
After college, he began applying for jobs. One place he applied was the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (USCGS). However, he was not initially selected for that program. He ended up at Iowa State University working on his graduate studies. He had his draft physical that summer.
By enrolling in ROTC at ISU he was able to continue his education. While at ISU, he received a telegram saying that someone had dropped out of the new USCGS Officer class and a position was available which he accepted.
“It really was not a matter of choice,” John said. “It was a matter of opportunity. It sort of turned me around 180 degrees.”
Instead, he received a direct commission in the USCGS based on his technical abilities and education. The government would not pay for his travel until he was commissioned, so he had to have a notary public commission him. Gord Prins, who was a notary at the State Bank of Chandler, notarized his commission.
John completed his training and orientation after about six weeks in Norfolk, Virginia. However, he had dislocated his shoulder already when he was at SDSU and needed to have his shoulder repaired before he would be allowed to go to sea.
John was assigned to Coastal Survey Ship 29 on the east coast. It was about the same time that John was joining the organization that the USCGS became part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The ship was renamed NOAA Ship Whiting after the change.
When he left the navy in 1975 he had reached the rank of lieutenant.
At this time, they were switching from manual measuring – literally throwing a lead weight over the side on a rope to measure the distance to the bottom – to electronic measurements using depth sounders. While the technology is much more sophisticated now, they are still using many of the same concepts that were being developed at that time.
John, along with five other officers, and a crew of about 30, lived on this 150-foot-long ship. The captain and the executive officer had their own – albeit small – living quarters and John and the other three officers had their shared quarters.
On the ship there were two enclosed launches that they took out onto the water for data collection. Each was outfitted with an electronic depth finder. They often worked with a shore-based crew that would put markers on the beach to help them navigate the launches. The ship also had a Boston whaler on board that could be used to go on shore.
John was assigned to Coastal Survey Ship 29 on the east coast. It was about the same time that John was joining the organization that the USCGS became part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The ship was renamed NOAA Ship Whiting after the change. Notice towards the back of the ship, the two covered launches. These were used to gather data about the ocean floor and shoreline.
Behind the bridge (the elevated, enclosed platform on a ship from which the captain and officers direct operations), there was a room where they would take their data and put it on a preliminary chart and later they would put it into the computer.
The other men on the ship were mostly merchant marines or retired fishermen who knew a lot about the sea and had a lot of experience. When he came on board, John was an ensign (pronounced en-sin), and was the lowest paid man on the ship.
Merchant marines are not military, but in this case, they were in the civil service. Others on the ship were retired fishermen. They joked that they were the North Carolina navy – they came from the areas right by the shore and had been fishermen all their lives.
When John joined the navy he was part of the United States Coast and Geodetic survey.
They surveyed the harbors using a grid-pattern. Sometimes there would be things in between their grid lines that needed to be noted – like large rocks. They would drag a cable between two other USGS ships to gather that information when required.
All of the data had to be recorded and then other people would take their data and transcribe it to written form. “We were just starting to make the transition to using computers for data,” John said. “But the computers didn’t have screens – they were teletype machines.” They had a mini computer to process data.
